Roadside moose part mistaken for human leg

LAMOINE, Maine — Police went to Mud Creek Road in the area of Pinkham’s Flats on Tuesday after someone driving by reported a large body part lying by the side of the road.

The motorist, thinking the abandoned leg might be human, called police, according to a summary of the incident written by Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Frost. Police responded and, with the help of the Maine Warden Service, determined that the large leg was not human. It was a moose leg.

Frost was not working Wednesday morning and could not immediately be reached for additional details.

Richard Bishop, chief deputy for Hancock County, said that it is unclear how the moose leg ended up where it was reported. He noted that moose hunting season is over in Maine and that someone could have killed the animal illegally and rushed off without the leg. But he added that it could have just fallen out of the back of someone’s truck.

“Somehow it ended up there,” Bishop said.

Bishop said he does not know how fresh the leg might have been when it was found. According to Frost’s summary, the leg was moved by police into the nearby woods and left to decompose.